I just thought I would write this for anyone else who is looking for abortion experiences.

Well today I had the surgical termination. Some of you might have read that I was meant to have the medical but because of problems on that hospital ward I had to go to another hospital and have the surgical.

I turned up at 8am and was put into a waiting room, gradually more woman came in of all ages. Strange thing is it actaully comforted me knowing other people were going through it. No-one spoke to each other though.

We were then all put into our own private rooms (me and hour after everyone else as they couldn't find my notes due to the changing hospitals) The nurse then came round and made sure I was sure with my decision and gave me a list and do's and don'ts for the next few weeks and checked my medical history. The Aneathitist (sp) then came round and basically asked the same questions as the nurse, whether I'd had an operation before etc. Then the doctor came round and asked me to sign a consent form then asked all the same questions as the previous two.
I then had to take everything off. This included make-up, piercings, contact lenses, nail varnish, jewlerry and hair bobbles etc. I put on the gown aling with my dressing gown and slippers.
This didn't all happen at once though, this was over a period of about 2 hours.

I then was walked down to what I think was the recovery room where a new nurse asked me all the same questions as before.

I have to admit I was very emotional by this point. Mostly because of the fear of the procedure NOT my decision.

I was then wheeled into a small room where they put the needle into my hand too put me too sleep. This was the most painful thing of the whole day. I was then again asked if I was sure. I was still crying but I really did have one of the nicest woman I have ever met holding my hand. I remember listening to a story one of them was telling when I was being put to sleep. I felt abit like i was floating to the ceiling. The last thing I remember is thinking "this isn't working". The next time I woke up the nurse was putting me back into my bed in my room. I think I had been kept and woken up in recovery for abit but I don't remember this.

As soon as I was out into my bed the nurse gave me some paracetamol but I wasn't in that much pain. Like dull period pain. I wasn't bleeding heavily either.

When I was put into the bed I was wide awake. I ate my lunch (the first time I'd seen food without feeling sick for a month and you have to eat before you leave)The most discomfort at this point was the needle still in my hand, I think the nurses got sick of me asking when it could be taken out.

So I got changed back into my clothes, the needle was taken out (finally!) and a doctor came round and asked me about future contraception. I was give the depo injection straight away. My friend picked up about 2pm.

Now I'm not really bleeding at all, but I know it will probably get heavier. I have no pain either. I'm not sad, guilty or have any regret about what I have done and I haven't cried. I'm relieved I can get on with the rest of my life. It sounds strange but this is the happiest I've been since I found out. Maybe I still need time to really realise what I've done but I have never really accepted that I was pregnant and I was 1000% sure so that has probably helped.

I'm not saying i'll never wonder if I didn't go through with it and who knows in days, months or years it could upset me but right now i'm fine. I wasn't expecting to feel like this at all and I had really geared myself to be an emotional wreck but I'm not at all. I was one of the last girls to leave the ward (coz of the delay so I was last to go down to theatre) so I seen others leave and everyone was happier leaving the ward after it was over with.

I just wanted to write this to let everyone know that not everyones abortion is a horror story and not everyone regrets it. As long as this is what you want and you're not being forced in any way then theres no reason why you can't go on and have a happy life..with kids in the future! But please remember everyone is different and my emotions might be different to someone elses.

bananapop xx

Hope this will help others - i recently had an abortion at 6 weeks - you make an appointment with your GP who refers you to outpatients clinic where (in my experience) had a scan to determine the age of the sac (if under 9 weeks a medical termination can be done instead of surgical) and blood tests. I was 6 weeks pregnant and was told i would have a medical termination. After consenting, I had a migyfene pill the same day and was made an appointment as an inpatient for 48 hours later - not much happens after taking it but i was warned i could have cramping and light bleeding. When i got to the gynaecology ward two days later i was given a private room and put my pj's on and was given a tablet which was inserted into the womb by a nurse (please ask the nurse beforehand what you might expect throughout the day - this was something i wish i had done)i lay in the hospital bed for about an hour feeling fine until i had some really painful cramps so i kept going to the toilet (you have to go in one of those disposable cardboard trays so they can see what you have passed) I was in alot of pain so i called the nurse and she gave me painkillers which helped straight away. all morning i was back and fourth to the toilet and eventually realised that i had passed the sac - i was quite shocked as nobody had told me what it would be like - it was white and about the size of a grape, i called the nurse and she came to get it (i mean i guessed that that was the sac because noone told me that this was it when they collected it) . this was at about 12.20 and shortly after this the nurse came in to ask me if i wanted any lunch (no mention of how long i had to stay even though i had passed the products). I managed a couple of mouthfulls of food but i didnt really feel like eating. I was vomiting shortly after - and was again shocked because noone had explained this might happen. 2pm came around and i found myself in tears because of the stomach cramps - i called the nurse who said "you shouldnt be having pains now - youve passed everything" so she gave me another tablet that she inserted into the neck of the womb and i was ok after that. 5.30pm i was able to leave from 9am the same morning. Still having period like bleeding and nobody has told me when they will stop or if my periods will be regular again.

My advice to anyone having an abortion would be to get as much info as possible from your GP or if you know anyone whos had one to ask them about their experience - its such a shock to your body and to your emotional stability if you dont know what to expect.
Take care x
(i have also put this on some other threads)

That was the best message i have ever read on here.. and i hope it helps others like it's helped me. one question - how old are you? my only worry is what if i never get preg again??
x

Thanks for saying that, I wrote it because it was experiences I was looking for beforehand but couldnt really find any (except for www.imnotsorry.net but its an american site).

I'm 19.

I really don't know, I suppose it's something we'll never know until later on. Theres no medical reason why not and if you don't have complications theres no reasons why you couldn't but I'm not an expert on all that.

Good luck with everything! xx

Firstly, i would like to thank you for replying to my post
you have completely put my mind at ease, and yes i am also 1000% sure of my decision
its strange cos i never thought this would happen to me, and i keep going through stages of freaking out and then becoming completely calm about it all. my emotions are all over the place
however you have calmed me down a lot as i have read some of these posts and abortions seem like a complete horror story
i was just wondering, did you first go and see your GP about it? because i couldnt get an appointment today so i just referred myself to the hospital where i arranged the appointment for my first consultation
is it worth me going to see my GP aswell? because I just want this over as soon as possible.
thanks for the advice
xxx

Yeah I was exactly the same one day I was an emotional wreck and other days I was completely fine. Snap again I was always like "yeah people can have abortions but I wont" and look what happens.

To be honest i don't think you need to go see you're GP if you've already referred yourself as that's all the GP can do. I got referred from the Brook and I never saw my GP once, but the hospital did say to go for a check up in a month.

I think that people only come onto these sort of sites looking for help and if they've had a bad time. Look how many horror stories there are compared to the amount of abortions that actually take place. I know I came on here looking for reassurance and couldn't really find it anywhere apart from afew people.

Well from finding out I was pregnant I had to wait just over 3 weeks. BUT initially I was booked in for a medical the week after but because there was no-one available to take me home (I only told one person I was pregnant and they were away for the first appointment) so the next time was 2 weeks later then I got changed to surgical..which I was soooo relieved about but by that time I was on the time limit for a medical. So make sure theres someone to pick you up and stay with you that night or they won't do it until there is.